List of people from Goa

This is a list of famous and notable people from Goa, India. This list aims to include persons who are known to a large number of people, and is not based on the extent of their popularity. Neither is the list viewed from the context of the present. Their fame could be brief, what matters is that they were well-known during the peak of their popularity.

Sports personalities

• Brahmanand Sankhwalkar, prominent soccer player and former Goa captain. One of Goa's best goalkeepers. An Arjuna awardee for his achievements in sports.
• Bruno Coutinho, prominent Indian footballer and Arjuna awardee.
• Dilip Sardesai, former cricketer.
• Antao D'Souza – represented Pakistan cricket team in Tests in the 1950s and early 60s.
• Swapnil Asnodkar, opening batsman for Goa and Rajasthan Royals. Played a key role in helping his team win the inaugural edition of the Indian Premier League.
• Seraphino Antao – represented Kenya in sprinting in the Commonwealth Games during the 1950s and early 60s. Won two gold medals.

Olympians

• Leo Pinto: Field Hockey, 1948, representing India
• J.M. Carvalho Joaquim Carvalho: Field Hockey, 1976, representing India
• Jack Britto: Field Hockey, 1952, representing Pakistan

Musicians

• António Fortunato de Figueiredo, conductor, violinist (1903–1981). Founder-director of Academia de Música (now Dept of Western Classical Music, Kala Academy), founder-director Orquestra Sinfónica de Goa (Goa Symphony Orchestra)

• Asha Bhosle Bollywood playback singer
• Chris Perry - the king of Goan Music
• Hema Sardesai, playback singer
• Ian D'Sa, UK born of Goan descent and guitarist of Canadian band Billy Talent
• Jitendra Abhisheki, noted Indian musician
• Kesarbai Kerkar (1892–1977)
• Manoel Saldanha (1863-1907) , Composer and first Indian origin director of music, Royal Indian Navy.
• Khaprumama Parvatkar (1879-1953), noted ghumat and tabla player.
• Kishori Amonkar, noted Indian classical singer
• Lata Mangeshkar nightingale of India
• Lorna Cordeiro, Goa's nightingale
• Lucio Miranda, Guitarist and singer
• Pandit Prabhakar Karekar-Indian classical singer
• Pio Peter D'Souza Bassist, Guitarist, Drummer [1]
• Remo Fernandes prominent Goan pop star and Bollywood playback singer

Doctors

• Consolasao Fernandes, Bario Fernandes Vaddo, Siolim. A very prominenet doctor in the village. Today his niece Donna Nilda (aged 92 dt. 2011) inherited the house. The surname of Fernandes as been adopted by the family and today called 'Fernandes Barreto'. Mr Robustiano do Rosario Barreto hailing from Velsao married Dona Nilda Souza Xavier and settled in Siolim. The couple had 5 sons and 2 daughters.

Indologists

• Damodar Dharmanand Kosambi (1907–1966) renowned Indologist.
• Dharmanand Kosambi (1876–1947) studied Pali and was a renowned Buddhist scholar.
• José Gerson da Cunha (1844–1900) ,one of India's prominent historian and Orientalist. Besides Konkani and Portuguese, French, English and Sanskrit, he could handle Pehlevi, Italian, Persian and German, Marathi. He wrote the first book on history of Bombay, The Origin of Bombay (1900), published by the Bombay branch of the Royal Asiatic Society.
• Mahadevshastri Joshi

Senior police

• Julio Francis Ribeiro, "super-cop". Served as chief of police in Mumbai, and of Punjab, during its troubled period of history, later ambassador to Romania

Political campaigners

• Dr. Jack de Sequeira, prominent campaigner for the opinion poll that retained Goa as an independent state
• Abbé Faria, a priest, a key participant in the Conspiracy Of The Pintos; later became a famous hypnotist and revolutionary in France
• Pio Gama Pinto, Kenyan Freedom Fighters and Polictian, and director of the Pan African Press
• Keith Vaz, Aden-born politician of Goan origin in the House of Commons. Member in the first Cabinet of Tony Blair
• Telo Mascarenhas, freedom-fighter and also did a Portuguese translation of the autobiography of Mahatma Gandhi
• Eduardo Faleiro: prominent politician and former central minister
• Narana Coissoró, member of the Portuguese Parliament
• António Costa is Socialist Mayor of Lisbon and is of partial Goan descent, his father was the writer Orlando da Costa and his mother the writer Maria Antónia Palla.
• Dayanand Bandodkar, First Chief Minister of Goa
• Otelo Saraiva de Carvalho, formerly a Portuguese military officer, was the chief strategist of the 1974 Carnation Revolution in Lisbon was born in Lourenço Marques (now Maputo), Mozambique of some Goan ancestry
• Pandurang Purushottam Shirodkar,First speaker of Goa Assembly.
• Luís de Menezes Bragança, Prominent journalist, writer and anti-colonial activist
• Tristão de Bragança Cunha, Eminent Goan freedom fighter
• Mark Fernandes, from Calangute. Freedom Fighter
• Froliano Machado, former Speaker of Goa Assembly
• Alfredo Bruto da Costa, Politician and Ex- Minister in Portugal
• Erasmo de Sequeira Head of United Goans Party and Member of the Indian Parliament in Delhi

Judges and Lawyers

• Fitz R S de Souza, barrister-at-law and PhD from London, was an important figure in African politics. Participated in Kenya's struggle for freedom.
• Luís da Cunha Gonçalves, (1875–1956) wrote as many as 14 volumes on his studies of Civil Law.
• Wolfgang Dourado Attorney General, Zanzibar.
• Robustiano do Rosario Barreto, originally from an Aristocratic family background from Velsao Salcete with a family 'Brazão' (Coat of Arms) & Family Title 'Casa dos Fidalgos' (House of the Nobility)later settled in Siolim (Marna), eminent lawyer and a public prosecutor during Portuguese rule in Goa.

Technocrats, senior officials and designers

• Charles Correa, prominent architect.

Professors and educationists

• Dr. Rui J. P. de Figueiredo, professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering and Mathematics, University of California at irvine

Artists

• Francis Newton Souza, (1924–2003), world-renowned artist.
• Vasudeo S. Gaitonde, (1924–2001) was regarded as India's foremost abstract artist. He received Padma Shri Award in 1971. He was born in Nagpur of Goan Parents.
• Angelo da Fonseca, noted for presenting Christian themes in Indian style.
• Mario de Miranda, famous for his cartoons in The Illustrated Weekly of India, and a Padma Vibushan Awardee
• Subodh Kerkar, artist
• Varsha Usgaonkar, film Actress
• Victor Hugo Gomes Founder of Goa Chitra [2]

Scientists

• Garcia de Orta, physician, druggist, and botanist (1523–1580). Wrote and published first major book on Indian drugs and remedies. He was a Portuguese/Spanish Jew who lived some time in Goa.
• Froilano de Mello, Indo-Portuguese microbiologist, medical scientist, professor, author and independent MP in the Portuguese parliament.
• Anil Kakodkar, eminent nuclear scientist and Chairman of the Atomic Energy Commission
• Raghunath Mashelkar, eminent scientist and head of the prestigious Council of Scientific and Industrial Research
• Dr.Skoda Afonso—Scientist.
• Dr. Agostinho Vicente Lourenco, Goan Scientist
• Mr. Avir Goes, Philosophist at Facebook

Religious Leaders

• Valerian Gracias, Cardinal in Bombay (Mumbai/Goa)
• Joseph Cordeiro, Cardinal in Pakistan (Karachi/Goa)
• Anthony Theodore Lobo, Bishop of Rawalpindi/Islamabad, Pakistan (Karachi/Goa)
• Ivan Dias, Cardinal Prefect, Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples, Rome (Mumbai/Goa)
• Cardinal Oswald Gracias, from Carmona, Archbishop of Mumbai
• Filipe Neri António Sebastião do Rosário Ferrão, from Aldona, current Archbishop of Goa and Damao
• Anthony de Mello, Jesuit priest and author
• Mons. Tomás de Aquino do Rosario Barreto, Velsao Goa, Monsenhor vigário-geral e vigário capitular de Goa
• Fr. Alfred Barreto, Priest (Catholic) from Velsao Goa, founder principal of the Vidya Bhavan School, Vidya Bhavan College of Commerce and also served as principal of Ornellas high school and St Vincent's College of Commerce, Principal St.Patrick's High & Higher Secondary School,vice-president of the Women's Hockey Association of Maharashtra.
• Anthony Alwyn Fernandes Barreto, from Velsao / Siolim Goa, First Bishop of Diocese of Sindhudurg (Dioecesis Sindhudurgiensis) in India was created on July 5, 2005, Chairman of Youth Commission in Western Region. Was Dean in the Poona Diocese, (S/o Robustiano Barreto (refer judges and lawyers)& Nilda Souza Xavier Barreto, Brother of Concolacao, Isabelle, Francisco (Chiquito), Savio, Malini & Cipriano.
• Venerable Fr. Agnelo de Souza—from Anjuna,
• Padre José Antonio da Conceiçao e Sousa—from Calangute, Professor of Lyceum, Panjim.
• Evarist Pinto, from Aldona, Archbishop of Karachi, Pakistan
• Joseph Vaz, Missionary in Sri Lanka (Ceylon). Patron of Goan Archdiocese
• Sr. Lucy Britto, From Veroda, Cuncolim, First Indian Woman to work for the Secretariat of State, The Vatican.
• Moreno de Souza – Translated the Bible into Konkani language
• Joel Ribeiro – Catechist, Drummer - Corlim - Goa [Konkani language]]

Writers, Editors, Journalists

• Armand de Souza born in 1877 in Assagao to the Camotim family, was the Founding Editor of the Morning Leader in Ceylon. An early freedom fighter, he was gaoled by the British colonial government for advocating democracy, but released following public protests at his incarceration. He was the author of Hundred days in Ceylon under martial law in 1915[3] and father of Senator Doric de Souza (Professor of English) and the late Editor of the Times of Ceylon, Tory de Souza. He died in 1922.
• Chandrakant Keni retired as the editor of Marathi daily Rashtramat and Konkani daily Sunaparant, worked as a freelance journalist. He was associated with development of Konkani language. With a few books to his credit, Mr. Keni bagged the Sahitya Academy Award for his book "Ashadh Pawali".
• Sachin R. Borker: A Well known Journalist and Editor-in-Chief of Worldlink News.He has started a first 24 hours Satellite News & Infotainment TV Channel (Goa News)in Goa.
• Dinesh D'Souza is the author of numerous New York Times best selling books and a conservative writer and speaker.
• Maria Aurora Couto is a well known writer, academic and literary critic with books including Graham Greene: On the Frontier, Politics and Religion in the Novels, and Goa: A Daughter's Story.
• Ravindra Kelekar (born 1925), freedom fighter, writer and revivalist of Konkani language.
• Orlando da Costa (1929–2006) was a Communist Portuguese poet and writer of Goan descent, born in the capital of the former Portuguese colony of Mozambique, Maputo.
• Frank Moraes, editor of many prominent newspapers in post-Independence India, including The Indian Express.
• Dom Moraes (born 1938) has won the American Press Club Citation for Excellence in Reporting, for some 20 articles he wrote for the "New York Times Sunday Magazine". Also a poet. Died earlier this decade.
• Frank Simoes, a passionate Goan Advertising person, Author of "Glad season in Goa"
• Lambert Mascarenhas, author of the classic Novel "Sorrowing Lies My Land" (1955) which was reprinted thrice, the novel has been translated into Marathi, Telugu and Konkani. Lambert was the editor of Goan Tribune, the fortnightly dedicated to the cause of Goa's freedom from the Portuguese rule. He is also the founder editor of "Goa Today" and former editor of "The Navhind Times" and was awarded the State Cultural award
• Jose Pereira (born 1931), artist, writer, orator, historian, musicologist, theologian, indologist
• Sebastião Rodolfo Dalgado (1855–1922) of Assagao , linguist. Knew Malayalam, Sinhala, Bengali, Kannada,Marathi, Sanskrit. In 1892, he produced a Konkani-Portuguese dictionary and later a grammar
• Prakashchandra Pandurang Shirodkar;Archiologist
• Teotonio R. de Souza, b. 1947, Historian, Founder-Director of Xavier Centre of Historical Research, Goa (1979–1994), Fellow of the Portuguese Academy of History, author of Medieval Goa (1979), Goa to Me (1994), and several other publications on Goan History and Culture listed at http://www.degois.pt/visualizador/curriculum.jsp?key=6016226459122589 Co-founder of Goa Research Net with Frederick Noronha in 1997, and its Moderator till date
• Eunice de Souza,retired as Head of the English Dept, St Xavier's College, Bombay in 2007. She is a poet, novella-ist, and editor of several anthologies
• Francisco Luís Gomes (1829-1869), Indo-Portuguese physician, politician, writer, historian, and economist
• Bakibab Borkar - Konkani Writer and Poet
• Avi Goes (10-09-1986), Goan writer and philosopher

Governors

• Bernardo Peres da Silva of Neurá. Appointed Prefect of Estado da Índia Portuguesa in 1835, the only Goan to hold a post equivalent to a Governor-General

External links

• Goans All Over the World are Doing Great Things
• Goans on the International Sporting Stage
• Great Men of Goa

This list is incomplete; you can help by expanding it.